How to Make Your Own $5 Homemade MREs

Published 2022-10-13
MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) are no doubt a prepper favorite, but they can get fairly expensive. In this video, I put together some DIY homemade MREs with Mylar bags and some shelf-stable foods found at any grocery store. I was able to put together 4 of these emergency food kits for around $5 each. Much better than the $15 to $20 a military MRE costs.

In the video, I mentioned the Wallaby 100 Count Gusset Mylar Bag Bundle wallabygoods.com/collections/all/products/wallaby-…
I also talked about the Impulse Heat sealer, which I will be doing a more in-depth review on soon. amzn.to/3fTyZyP

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All Comments (21)
  • Shelf stable and temperature resistant candies like Skittles are a great addition. Plain M&Ms if you need a chocolate fix. Sugar free gum can act as a toothbrush, distract from hunger when on the go, and chewing has a known calming psychological effect.
  • @justkelly6992
    Remembering my days in military back 45 years or so a couple of items to throw into the MRE should be. A book of matches wrapped in wax paper and sealed with wax, a a small ration of toilet paper. Also if you can find it some canels or chicklet gum. A couple of those peppermit gum rocks easily overcame the horrid taste of the Lima beans and ham or the ten pound pound cake. A single use handi wipe or sanitizer wipe in foil packet would also be advisable.
  • @wjf213
    One thing you might want to do, is when putting an O2 absorber in with something that is hard and has sharp edges, like beef jerky, wrap the beef jerky in a paper towel before putting it in the mylar bag. Then when the oxygen is removed and you have a tight vacuum seal, the sharp edges on the beef jerky or rice in my case, doesn't slowly start poking holes in your bag. The paper towel acts as a nice buffer or padding, and you have extra towels if needed. Keep up the great work.
  • @jameskelly1680
    Great video. Couple of things I like to add: Sailor boy pilot bread. I take 3 of them, which is a good serving size for a pouch of tuna or chicken. Put it in a small mylar bag. You can either pull a vacuum on it and seal it, or you can add an oxygen absorber and seal it. Lasts darn near forever. Tortillas. Fold in half, which unfortunately will put a crease in them, but cannot be helped. Add an oxygen absorber and seal. Should last a year or more. You can use regular store bought tortillas. This would work really well for using a tuna, chicken, or pulled pork pouch to make a wrap. You can also add things like ready-to-eat rice or pasta instead. Any of these would boost your carbohydrates and calorie count way up. Dollar tree has some excellent snacks that could be repackaged in mylar for long life. The Combos and the Corn Nuts are exactly the same as the ones in MREs, both available in various flavors. If you repackage them in mylar and add an oxygen absorber, they will last a long time. Us old guys remember the very early MREs with the freeze dried fruit square. They were a favorite. They are still good 40 years later if you can find one with a good vacuum seal. If you want to do your own, Dollar Tree and Walmart both sell various freeze dried fruit pouches such as apples, bananas, berries, etc. It's not a square of styrofoam like the old MREs, but they are still delicious. They last a really long time as long as they are sealed up. Big fan of peanut M&Ms. Calorie dense, good mix of carbs, protein, and fat.
  • If you have a vacume sealer with a hose port, and either a jar sealer or canister set, you can put the unused oxygen absorbers in a Mason jar and vacume seal them until you need them. Keeps them good for a very long time.
  • Great idea, like the packaging. Oxygen absorber for the jerky or you will get moldy jerkey. Need to logically lay out your bfast, lunch, and dinner so each of your packs makes daily sense.
  • @solanisomeni
    Think about adding a couple of the individually packed sugar and powdered milk for the coffee loving folks. Yep, I drink milk with coffee... 😁 This will also add a few calories as well as the instant boost of energy from the sugar. Not long carbs but still, more energy and they don't take up much room in the pack. Otherwise, excellent idea you've got going there!!
  • @gr8satan21
    "Prepper Happy Meal". You sir, have just coined an excellent phrase. Well done!!!
  • Nice video Dale; looking forward to my turn to start doing these kind of things. Love the squeaky noise in the background. Assuming that your dog wanted to play. 😊
  • @jelkel25
    I got things down to more meals ready to cook than ready to eat. You can still get cheap dehydrators out there so you can make cheap backpackers meals that just need rehydration, you can put water in them while you are setting up your tent and then they just need warming up. You also have more choice about what is in them including your level of spices you prefer.
  • @cardiacbob
    I did a shopping trip to the Dollar Store and for $22.00 I got (almost) enough stuff for two 24-hr rations. I put in some green tea, napkins, individually sealed wet wipes, gum and flossers, and some Nando's plastic wear kits (when you get take-out they throw them in the bag) and an U.S. MRE dessert (cinnamon roll), so let's say $26.00 for a 24-hour MRE. Breakfast is cold, lunch can be cold or heated (I included one MRE heater), but you have to boil water for dinner (pasta mix + tuna fish or chicken). (I also built another 24-hour ration out of stuff I had already in my car and pantry. I don't have a vacuum sealer, so I just packed them in Gallon Ziploc Freezer bags with a few desiccant packets that I got out of my multivitamin bottles. It was a fun exercise, and now I have 72-hours worth of food for my Car emerg. kit.
  • @VibrantMotion
    Brilliant, I'd only put biscuits and nut bars in my bag before, I'll give it a go which will save me some money when I go walking and sleeping outside rather than popping in a shop. Thanks, Stefan, Channel Islands.
  • @jermsMRE
    New sub here! Love making my own MRE's! Great video!